The present invention relates to a reconfigurable unmanned aircraft system. The present invention also relates to a reconfigurable unmanned aircraft configured to operate in an airspace. The present invention further relates to a system and method for configuring reconfigurable unmanned aircraft. The present invention further relates to a system and method for operation and management of reconfigurable unmanned aircraft in an airspace. The present inventions generally relate to improvements to unmanned aircraft and for unmanned aircraft systems and methods.
It is known to use unmanned aircraft (e.g. referred to as unmanned air/aerial vehicle (UAV), unmanned aircraft system (UAS) to include an operator/pilot at a remote location, drone, etc.). Such unmanned aircraft (UAV/craft or UAV/drone craft) at present exist in a wide variety of forms (shapes/sizes), types (e.g. winged craft, rotor-driven craft, etc.), propulsion systems (e.g. engines, thrust-production, etc.), capacities, etc., with a wide variety of capabilities, carrying capacities, control systems, telemetry systems, robustness, range, etc., and as exist at present are able to perform a wide variety of functions in military, commercial, and recreational applications. At present, the typical UAV/drone craft is significantly smaller than a typical manned aircraft and typically may lack the functionality of typical commercial aircraft; some UAV/drone craft have sophisticated on-board control systems; some UAV/drone craft are operated by pilots at remote stations with data communications and instrumentation/feedback from the craft; other UAV/drone craft may have relatively simple control systems (e.g. basic remote control by line of sight by the operator). Differences in use and operation of UAV/drone craft and typical manned aircraft allow for differences in design and other design variations that facilitate functionality modifications and enhancements for UAV/drone craft.
The size and form and operation of UAV/drone craft are different from typical commercial aircraft and may vary significantly between types of UAV/drone craft; UAV/drone craft may be provided in various forms, including in forms that range from relatively simple to relatively difficult to control in flight conditions (and in comparison to a typical manned aircraft). Airworthiness/robustness, controllability/telemetry, data communications and failure modes for UAV/drone systems may vary widely between UAV/drone craft and in comparison to manned aircraft. Costs to build/purchase and operate a UAV/drone system may vary widely between UAV/drone craft and in comparison to manned aircraft. UAV/drone craft may be configured to perform functions for which a manned aircraft is generally not suitable (for various reasons) such as local/light parcel delivery, surveillance/monitoring, communications, military/government action, etc. UAV/drone craft may be designed and constructed to have widely varied capabilities for widely varied functions. Some UAV/drone craft may be designed as “expendable” or for finite/one-time use; some UAV/drone craft may be designed for cost-efficiency and simplicity; other UAV/drone systems may be designed for lengthy useful lives in operation.
It is known to provide a UAV/craft for use in any of a wide variety of functions and operations including parcel/item delivery, monitoring/surveillance, data transmission/communications, hobby/entertainment, advertising/marketing, etc. Such known UAV craft are provided in a variety of types and forms of a basic type or sets of types. UAV/drone systems also have gained appeal in a segment of the recreation/hobby/toy industry. One common form of UAV/craft is configured with a base and one or a set of rotors (e.g. to provide lift/thrust for propulsion) as in a conventional helicopter. It is known to design and construct such a UAV/craft in each of variety of designed arrangements given by a predetermined number of rotors, for example, with one rotor, two rotors, three rotors (tri-copter), four rotors (quad-copter), five rotors (penta-copter), six rotors (hexa-copter), eight rotors (octa-copter), etc.
Such known arrangements are by design and construction given a predetermined number of rotors in a predetermined position relative to the base; such existing arrangements are not configured to be modified after construction either in the number or placement of rotors; such UAV/craft are constructed for stable operation as configured in terms of rotor number/placement and do not comprise into use and operation as constructed. Such UAV/craft are by design/construction generally provided with a design capability (within an operating range) for thrust/life, carrying payload, etc. and other flight characteristics.
It is known to provide an aircraft (such as UAV/drone craft) that can be transformed in form by reconstruction, see for example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20140263823 titled “Transformable Aerial Vehicle” and U.S. Pat. No. 7,922,115 titled “Modular Unmanned Air-Vehicle”. However, such known UAV/drone craft have limitations in terms of transformability and/or functionality as implemented. For example, one method of transformation is to employ manual reconstruction of the arrangement of the UAV/craft, for example, rather than using a control/computing system. Such structures and systems for disassembly and/or reassembly of a UAV/craft in implementation do not fully achieve available benefits of efficiency and performance if such structures and system for UAV/craft require manual intervention and/or substantial time to implement a transformation.
One failure mode for UAV/craft is the failure of a rotor (e.g. malfunction of a rotor mechanism or motor/engine for a rotor/rotor system). If a UAV/craft suffers the malfunction/failure of a rotor and is not able to operate (e.g. to retain lift/thrust without the rotor), the likely result is that the UAV craft will be disabled or inoperable (and if failure occurs in flight the UAV/craft may crash land and/or be lost). Such known UAV/craft may or may not be able to operate functionally without one or more rotors out of operation; any capability of transformation that such known UAV/craft may have is not as completely useful in a real-time situation of a rotor failure or rotor malfunction if the UAV/craft is unable to perform without service/attention at a station (e.g. manual transformation/servicing at a station).
In use a UAV/craft may be called upon to carry payload/cargo that is of a varied type or form; such payload may be widely varied in mass, size, form or shape, etc. Payload that is asymmetrical and/or that is not readily able to be symmetrically located (in/on/under the base) relative to the rotors may present mass balance difficulties for a UAV/craft; the presence of an asymmetrical cargo may cause imbalances with respect to the rotors and may affect stability, efficiency or possibly operability of the UAV/craft. Payload may be multi-component (e.g. multiple items) or have large mass; payload may be light-weight and flexible; payload may comprise fluid (e.g. subject to leaks, etc.) or solids (e.g. subject to shifting in position). Depending upon how the payload is carried, a payload may provide inertia effects (e.g. lagging, swinging, sliding, etc.) in flight. Balancing the payload/cargo with respect to the rotors of a multi-rotor UAV/craft may present difficulties in deployment of the UAV/craft (e.g. require surplus weight/mass and/or division/disassembly of the items in the payload or other such action) before the UAV/craft may begin the mission.